Title
A RESOLUTION calling on the Washington state Legislature to help improve the health of King County and Washington state residents by maintaining current levels of funding for foundational public health services and by providing new, additional funding for public health, dedicated revenue from a new tax on electronic vaping devices, and encouraging other boards of health to adopt similar resolutions in support of public health funding.
Body
WHEREAS, every Washingtonian has the right to expect a strong network of local public health jurisdictions and a basic level of public health services, and
WHEREAS, prevention and public health contributions such as safe drinking water and immunizations have led to the greatest historical increases in life expectancy, and
WHEREAS, public health plays a critical public safety role protecting all Washingtonians, and
WHEREAS, an effective public health infrastructure is essential to decreasing the burden of chronic disease and ensuring our children are healthy and ready to learn, and
WHEREAS, those most essential services that protect everyone - immunizations, water and food safety, communicable disease prevention and services to vulnerable children and families - must remain strong, and
WHEREAS, there is a continued need to protect people from communicable diseases, whether Ebola, Enterovirus or E. coli, and other public health threats, and
WHEREAS, this funding is an immediate, urgent need and is essential to keeping the public health system operational, and
WHEREAS, funding and delivering foundational public health services and additional important services is a shared responsibility between the state and local governments, and
WHEREAS, many local governments have stepped up to ensure this critical component of the broader public safety system in Washington state and King County remain functional, and
WHEREAS, substantial efforts are underway to ensure that the public health successes of the 20th ce...

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